Appendix 6 F1

This Appendix describes the European vehicle number and linked marking applied in a visible manner on the vehicle to identify it uniquely and in a permanent manner during operation. It does not describe other numbers or markings eventually engraved or fixed in a permanent manner on the chassis or the main components of the vehicle during its construction.

Each railway vehicle shall receive a number consisting of 12 figures (called European vehicle number (EVN)) with the following structure:

In a given country, the 7 digits of technical characteristics and serial number are sufficient to identify uniquely a vehicle inside the groups of hauled passenger vehicles and special vehicles.

Alphabetical markings complete the number:

1. (a)

   abbreviation of the country in which the vehicle is registered (details in part 4);

2. (b)

   Vehicle Keeper Marking (details in part 1);

3. (c)

   abbreviations of the technical characteristics (details in part 12 for the wagons, part 13 for the hauled passenger vehicles).

A Vehicle Keeper Marking (VKM) is an alphabetic code, consisting of 2 to 5 letters. A VKM shall be inscribed on each rail vehicle, near the EVN. The VKM shall identify the keeper as registered in the EVR.

A VKM shall be unique and valid in all countries covered by this Decision and all countries that enter into an agreement that involves the application of the system of vehicle numbering and VKM as described in this Decision.

A VKM for a keeper which has its main place of business in a non-EU OTIF Contracting State is to be requested from OTIF Secretariat-General.

The VKM shall be a representation of the full name or abbreviation of the keeper, if possible in a recognisable manner. Any of the 26 letters of ISO 8859-1 alphabet may be used. The letters in the VKM shall be written in capitals. Letters that do not stand for first letters of words in the keeper's name may be written in lower case. For checking uniqueness, the letters written in lower case shall be taken as written in capitals.

Letters may contain diacritical signs. Diacritical signs used by those letters shall be ignored for checking uniqueness.

For vehicles of keepers that reside in a country that does not use the Latin alphabet, a translation of the VKM in its own alphabet may be applied behind the VKM separated from it by a slash-sign (‘/’). This translated VKM shall be disregarded for data-processing purposes.

More than one VKM may be assigned to a keeper, in case:

• the keeper has a formal name in more than one language;

• a keeper has good cause to distinguish between separate vehicle fleets within his organisation.

A single VKM may be issued for a group of companies:

• which belong to single corporate structure (e.g. holding structure);

• which belong to a single corporate structure that has appointed and mandated one organisation within this structure to handle all issues on behalf of all others;

• which have mandated a separate, single legal entity for handling all issues on their behalf. In that case the legal entity shall be the keeper.

The register of VKM shall be public and updated on a real-time basis.

An applicant shall request a VKM to the NSA of the Member State where the applicant has its main place of business. That NSA shall check the application and then forward it to the Agency. A VKM may be used only after publication by the Agency.

The holder of a VKM shall inform the competent national authority when it ends the use of a VKM, and the competent national authority shall forward the information to the Agency. A VKM shall then be revoked once the keeper has proved that the marking has been changed on all vehicles concerned. It shall not be reissued for 10 years, unless it is reissued to the original holder or at his request to another holder.

A VKM may be transferred to another holder, which is the legal successor to the original holder. A VKM shall stay valid when the VKM's holder changes his name to a name that does not bear resemblance to the VKM.

In case of a change of keeper which entails a change of VKM, the wagons concerned shall be marked with the new VKM within three months from the date of registration of the change of keeper in the EVR. In case of inconsistency between the VKM marked on the vehicle and the data registered in the EVR, the EVR-registration supersedes.

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